Tee Time: At Some Chinese Schools, Golf Gets the Green Light

The Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) International Conference Center and its nearby golf course in Boao, south China's Hainan Province.
Photo:
Zuma Press

Ever since Mao Zedong once called golf "too bourgeois," China has had a fraught relationship with the sport. But that isn't stopping Chinese students from taking a swing.

One public elementary school in Shanghai is now officially teaching students the finer points of the game. The Experimental School of Foreign Languages Affiliated to East China Normal University, which began enrolling students in golf lessons this semester, said in a statement on its website that the move reflects the school's "dare-to-innovate spirit.”

"The purpose of establishing such curriculum is to strengthen students’ physique, cultivate their sense of international etiquette and increase the elegance of their manners," the school cited principal Xia Haiping as saying.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has renewed Beijing's offensive against the game in recent years, with scores of golf courses being shuttered. The crackdown comes as China has launched a wide-ranging effort to curb corruption and lavish public spending. In a chronically arid country, the fact that golf courses require large quantities of water to be sustained has further deepened official skepticism about the game.

Staff answering the phone at the Shanghai school said no one was available to comment.

While public schools in China haven't generally embraced the golf tee, the sport has been making inroads within the private-school circuit for years. In the nation's capital, for the roughly 2,000 elementary, middle and high school students attending the Beijing Huijia Private School, golf is a mandatory class, said Li Yu, who heads sports management for the school.

According to Mr. Li, golf lessons confer numerous advantages, particularly given that the overwhelming majority of its students aim to study overseas. "Golf is more developed in Europe and the U.S. For students, it's a skill that can be useful when they're interviewing or applying for colleges,” he said.

He also said that he believed the sport would come in handy for students' future careers, including business networking and negotiations.

Still, Mr. Li said there are challenges that come along with teaching golf. "When it comes to school-to-school competitions, very few have these kinds of programs. So it can be hard to find schools to play."